Edward and Alphonse were still walking through the hallway when a stack of paperwork collided with them.

"Watch it, you dumbass!" Edward spat

"Ed!" Al looked at his brother.

"What did you say, Fullmetal? Is that anyway to talk to your superior?" Roy Mustang looked threateningly down at Ed.

"Just watch where you're going next time," Ed grumbled.

"Maybe if you weren't so short, I could see you over this paperwork."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT-"

"Shut it, Edward. I came here to deliver your next debriefing. You're being assigned to a high-priority mission. Just don't screw it up." Mustang handed him the file. "What's got you so riled up anyway?"

"Nothing… not anything you'd understand," Ed stalked past him, slamming the door to his room with incredible force.

"S-sorry sir, we'll take care of it right away!" Al reassured Mustang, and ran after his brother, his metal frame clanking down the hallway.

"I never want to have kids." Mustang began to pick up all the papers that had scattered. He noticed that Fullmetal dropped one of the papers out of the file - the exact one that explained that the girl was a homunculus.

"Oh well, one little missing detail won't hurt Fullmetal."

Allison looked up at Edward and Alphonse as they re-entered the room. Al looked like he usually did, but Ed looked pissed.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" she asked him. He ignored her and headed to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he said, "Al, take a look at that file, will you?" He shut the bathroom door and slid down the wall, holding his head in his hands. He didn't know what to feel anymore - he was angry, he felt depressed, but strangely enough -

He felt relieved.

He was both furious and upset that someone attempted human transmutation and was forced to exchange precious things in return, but he was also relieved that someone else besides him and Al were idiotic enough to attempt it. It reassured him that he and Al were not alone in their journey.

He stripped of his black shirt, leather pants, underwear, and socks. He pulled out his braid, separating the gilded locks. He turned the shower faucet, and hot water came pouring out. He stepped underneath the waterfall of water and ran his fingers through his hair.

It was so hard to wrap his mind around how he felt about this girl. He had so many questions for her… What did the military want with her? How much did sacrifice to the Gate, and how does she feel about her mistake now? Could she possibly understand his feelings, his motivations, his desires that he had felt that made him attempt to bring back his mother? He ran a frustrated hand through his hair again. All of sudden, the door burst open.

"Brother!"

Although shrouded by a curtain, Ed shrieked and turned the other way, his bare back facing Al. "Al, what the hell! There's a girl here!"

"Sorry brother, but this is important." Al held out the file towards Ed. "You might want to read this."

"Couldn't this have waited until after my shower?"

"Just read it!" Al sounded urgent.

Ed sighed. He grabbed a towel off the rack to his left and wrapped it around his waist. He took the file from Al, forgetting about Allison, and left the bathroom reading it.

"Girl missing… lab 5… high priority…Allison…alchemy..." Ed read out loud, "Hey Allison, looks here like you're pretty damn important to the military." He glanced up at her to see a funny expression on her face.

Allison could hear Edward screaming at Al in the bathroom. Suddenly, he walked out of the bath room with just a towel on, holding some file. After that, any words that entered and left her ears were swept away by the deafening sound of her beating heart. Her face grew hot as she realized she was examining him - his perfectly sculpted abs, his muscular biceps, his beautiful hair… Her face grew even redder as he made eye contact with her, and she averted her eyes to the window.

"Oh…" he said, realizing his mistake "OH!" He ran back towards the bathroom, grabbing his clothes. He quickly shut the door behind him, although she could still hear him through it. "Ohshitohshitohshit!" Two minutes later, he walked out fully clothed, his face bright red. "Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, "It-it's just I've never had a girl in my room before."

She looked at him for a moment, and then began to laugh. She kept laughing and laughing, and found him as the most hilarious sight she's seen for days. Her heart was still thumping in her ears, and her face flushed. What was this feeling? Why did she feel so - ? Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Allison fell silent. They all turned towards the door, and then back at each other.

All of sudden, Al ran across the room, scooped her up, and threw her inside his armor. She was about to scream in fright, realizing the armor was empty, but Al quickly hushed her before she had the chance. Edward walked up cautiously to the door and opened it.

It was Fuhrer Bradley. "Ahh, Fullmetal, I'm glad to see you're doing well. Same goes for you, Alphonse."

"Furher." Edward stiffened. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just dropping by to assign a mission."

"We've already have a mission- high priority, Colonel Mustang's orders."

"Maybe you have a mission, Edward, but Alphonse was not strictly assigned this mission as well."

"What are you getting at, sir?" Ed narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Furher Bradley sighed, understanding that once again, Fullmetal was too slow to catch on. "Alphonse Elric, you are being assigned the task of scouting out Ishval and searching for Scar. We can't have him going after Edward while he has an important mission to attend to, now can we?"

Alphonse replied quietly, "Yes, sir."

"Well Fullmetal, you might want to get started on that search. That girl may be closer than you think," he chuckled, and left the room.

"Damnit!" Ed yelled, slamming his fist against the closed-door, "that bastard's at it again! He's trying to separate us, Al!"

Alphonse looked at the floor. "Brother, I have to go, whether I like it or not," he sighed, "we can't afford to lose your state alchemist license, not when we're so close to figuring out what we've searched for."

"I know Al, I know. But that guy still pisses me off."

"Wait, what the hell is going on here?" Allison asked, removing Al's head and clambering out of the empty suit of armor. "Your brother is an empty suit of armor, you lost half your body to the Gate, and you work for the military, which doesn't seem to be to kind towards you. Why?"

Alphonse and Edward Elric turned toward each other, and then looked back at the deeply confused girl. Ed sighed deeply.

"I think it's time you heard the whole truth."

Hmmm, I wonder what Al and Ed are going to do about their predicament? And how will Allison react when she finds out the whole truth? Sorry for taking so long to update… but I need more reviews people! I'm losing my inspiration! Reviews + me = more chapters = everybody's happy! Also, if anyone wants to beta read, I would really appreciate it! I apologize if any of the characters seem OOC.